Late Beethoven: Opus 131

Many consider Beethoven’s Fourteenth String Quartet the Mount Everest of his late quartets. For the composer himself, it was his favorite piece. A moving fugue is the first of seven parts that seamlessly transition into each other. The richness of ideas, mastery of form, inventiveness in variations, and emotional range make this quartet one of the very best works of art that humanity has produced.

In Jan Caeyers’ excellent biography of Beethoven, the chapter on the late string quartets is entitled “The Discovery of Heaven”. This is fitting, as these quartets, like Mulisch’s novel, open up a world beyond comprehension. Beethoven’s music expresses the essence of love and pain more powerfully than words ever could. At the height of his creativity, he explores the boundary between thinking and feeling, between matter and spirituality.